This is an audio-only (i.e., with no video content) Blu-ray disc playable only on Blu-ray players.

Also available on standard CD

This unique programme is the first time that all the ballet music from Verdi’s operas has been brought together in a singe recording. Although The Four Seasons from I vespri siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) and the ballet scenes from Aida and Otello have survived, substantial pieces from Il trovatore and Don Carlo are more often cut, while the ballet from Jérusalem is all but unknown. José Serebrier’s recordings with the Bournemouth Symphony have resulted in some great successes with unusual repertoire. This release will be of interest both to opera enthusiasts and to those eager to explore Verdi’s neglected and relatively small body of concert music.

R E V I E W:



VERDI Complete Ballet Music from the Operas • José Serebrier, cond; Bournemouth SO • NAXOS 8.57218-19 (2 CDs: 115:22); NAXOS NBD0027 (Blu-ray audio: 115:22)


This pair of discs includes ballet music from Otello, Macbeth, Jérusalem, Don Carlo, Aida, Il trovatore , and I vespri Siciliani —much of it music we don’t get to hear in performances of these operas. The most direct competition for this set is the four-disc Chandos series featuring all of this music plus all the preludes and overtures, with the BBC Philharmonic under Edward Downes. If you have those discs, this would probably be a needless duplication. But comparing the performances demonstrates Serebrier to be the more interpretively interesting conductor. Downes’s performances are more than competent, and he does hold one’s interest throughout what is not always first-rate music. I reviewed the Downes recordings as they were released, in Fanfare 20:5, 21:6, and 23:5.


Serebrier, however, brings to the music a greater variety of color, more rhythmic energy, and a wider range of ideas about phrasing. The vitality of his rhythm is perhaps the most significant difference, and it can be heard everywhere, in slow or fast music. The extra lilt he brings, for example, to the waltz right after the introduction of the Don Carlo ballet brings a smile to the listener.


There are fine, comprehensive notes to accompany the disc, and Naxos’s recorded sound is well balanced and clear, if a bit closer-in than the Chandos. While not all of this music is at Verdi’s most inspired level, none of it is unworthy of our attention. Second-rate Verdi is still better than most composers’ gems! Serebrier’s colorful, charming, and highly committed performances, and the Bournemouth Symphony’s excellent playing, make this a highly recommendable disc.


FANFARE: Henry Fogel